Sales of Samsung Galaxy S III phones top 30 million units

FIERCE COMPETITION:Although Samsung has taken up a large share of the market, the firm’s main rival, Apple still leads in the smartphone sector

AFP, SEOUL

A man using a mobile phone walks past a Samsung Electronics’ advertisement in Seoul Oct. 5.

Photo: Reuters

Samsung Electronics Co said yesterday that global sales of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone had topped 30 million units since its debut in May.

“The Galaxy S III continues to be a runaway favorite with customers around the world,” JK Shin, head of Samsung’s IT and mobile communications division, said in a statement.

The third version of the Galaxy S series offers a more powerful processor that lets users watch video and write e-mails simultaneously as well as a large 12.2cm screen.

The company sold 56.3 million smartphones, including its flagship S III, in the July-to-September period, representing 31.3 percent of the global market, more than twice as much as bitter rival Apple’s share, research firm IDC said last month.

Samsung and US rival Apple have been embroiled in a long-running patent battle in 10 countries, including the US and Germany, with the pair accusing each other of stealing designs and technology.

Although the South Korean firm has gobbled up market share, Apple still leads its rival in terms of overall profitability in the smartphone sector.

Underscoring its commitment to variety, Samsung announced on Friday that global sales of its scaled-up smartphone, the Galaxy Note II, had topped 3 million since its debut in late September.

The main issue for Samsung, according to analysts, is how it handles its future relations with Google, given its dependency on the Android platform.

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